FI16674
Request
1a. Requests to be entered onto the Electoral Register
- 1aa. During the period 01/01/2025 - 01/01/2026, how many people submitted requests to Dover District Council’s Electoral Services to be registered to vote?
- 1ab. During the period 01/01/2025 - 01/01/2026, how many of the requests submitted to Dover District Council’s Electoral Services to be registered to vote led to the individual being added to the electoral register?
1b. Requests to be entered onto the Electoral Register with a second address
- 1ba. If held as a discrete data field, during the period 01/01/2025 - 01/01/2026, how many requests were submitted to Dover District Council’s Electoral Services to be registered to vote were for individuals with more than one address?
- 1bb. If held as a discrete data field, during the period 01/01/2025 - 01/01/2026, how many of the requests submitted to Dover District Council’s Electoral Services to be registered to vote and having more than one address, led to the individual being added to the electoral register?
1c. Requests around postal votes
- 1ca. During the period 01/01/2025 - 01/01/2026, how many requests were submitted to Dover District Council’s Electoral Services to be registered for postal voting?
- 1cb. During the period 01/01/2025 - 01/01/2026, how many requests submitted to Dover District Council’s Electoral Services to be registered for postal voting resulted in the applicant being granted a postal vote?
- 1cc. If held as a discrete data field, during the period 01/01/2025 - 01/01/2026, out of all requests submitted to Dover District Council’s Electoral Services to be registered for postal voting that led to applicants being granted a postal vote, how many of the requests were in the form of a new electoral registration request (as in the postal vote application was accompanied by a new request to be entered on the electoral register)?
- 1cd. If held as a discrete data field, during the period 01/01/2025 - 01/01/2026, out of all requests submitted to Dover District Council’s Kent to be registered for postal voting that led to applicants being granted a postal vote, how many of the requests were from individuals previous entered on the electoral register?
2. Entries on the Electoral Register
- 2a. At the point in time of 01/01/2026, how many people were registered to vote on Kent’s electoral register?
- 2b. At the point in time of 01/01/2026, did Kent hold any data or estimates relating to electoral registration completeness (as in, an estimate of the percentage of people registered to vote out of every person entitled to be registered to vote in the region covered by Kent’s Kent)? If yes, what is this percentage/estimated percentage?
Response
Under the Representation of the People Act 1983 as amended, the Council must appoint an officer of the Council to be the Returning Officer for any constituency or part of a constituency coterminous with or situated in the Council’s area. Nadeem Aziz is the appointed officer for the registration area of Dover District. His appointment as Returning Officer (RO) and as Electoral Registration Officer (ERO) is separate to his appointment as Chief Executive and, although appointed by the Council, both the Electoral Registration Officer and the Returning Officer’s responsibilities and duties are personal. An example of this is that the register of electors is deemed to be the property of the Electoral Registration Officer, not the local authority.
The Electoral Registration Officer and the Returning Officer do not carry out the duties on behalf of the local authority but in their own personal capacity. Details of what constitutes a public body that is subject to the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act is available at the following website: https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/foi/freedom-of-information-and-environmental-information-regulations/public-authorities-under-foia/.
As you will see, the Freedom of Information Act does not list any person appointed under the Representation of the People Act 1983. It follows that the Electoral Registration Officer, Returning Officer or any other person appointed under the Act are not subject to the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act. Notwithstanding that there is no statutory obligation to provide this information under FOI regulations, the information you have requested can be found below:
1a. Requests to be entered onto the Electoral Register
1aa. 8,854
1ab. 8,673 – please note this figure does not account for any duplicate registrations
1b. Requests to be entered onto the Electoral Register with a second address
1ba. This information is not held.
1bb. This information is not held.
1c. Requests around postal votes
1ca. 5,019 applications received.
1cb. 4,397 determined and of those 4,264 approved (i.e. postal vote granted) and 133 rejected.
1cc. This information is not held.
1cd. This information is not held.
2. Entries on the Electoral Register
2a. We do not hold the data for the whole of Kent, only Dover. If you require the figures for Dover instead, you need to specify which publication date you want the figures from: the Register of Electors is updated on the first of the month, unless that day is a weekend or bank holiday. As 1 January was a Bank Holiday, we could only give you a figure from the last Register update on 1 December 2025, or you could request the figure from the 2 January 2026 update.
2b. This information is not held for Kent, or Dover.